Vita, Amore, Risata
by Tortilla-san
Summary: Two completely different girls from different dimensions met. "I hate this tiny body. I hate how she was so... happy until I came and literally stole her life." [OC centric]
1. There's No Bargaining With Death

**Vita, Amore, Resita- Life, love, laughter. (VAR)**

**A complete rewrite for my other story under the same name.**

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_Nobody wants to die. And the two unfortunate girls are no excpetions. But death doesn't care; all it wants was your shitty soul, right?_

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**Lesson 1: There's No Bargaining With Death**

I had many names that people like to call me.

_Bitch_

_Arse_

_Good-for-nothing_

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Of course, I had an actual name.

_Delia._

Such a delicate name, no? I wasn't sure who gave me that name; the parents who abandoned me at birth or the people of the orphanage.

Not that being an orphan was a bad thing or anything; I just happened to have a short-temper that tends to repel people away from me regardless of their age.

When was the last decent conversation I had with anybody that wasn't behind the computer screen? If you asked me that, I would punch you in the face and spit on you.

Hey, if you're backing away now, I don't blame you.

I don't care if people hated me.

People are all arses.

I'm an arse too.

But of course, I _did _have something good in my life.

Once a week or so, I would check for updates for my favourite manga.

If I had enough money, I would go to the nearby bookstore to buy the actual manga.

I continued on with my lifestyle for years, the thought of it changing had never crossed my head.

* * *

When I heard there was a cup-stacking competition in a school and the grand prize was a coupon for a bookstore that I always visit, I immediately knew what I should do.

Staring at the poster, one thought came across me.

_I need a uniform._

A group of students walked out of the school gate, laughing and talking among each other.

I mentally picked out a blonde chick, whose clothing would seem to fit with me.

When she was alone, I approached her.

"Um, hello?"

Raising my fist, I delivered it into her guts.

"A-ACK-"

I watched her hugging her abdomen whilst trembling.

"Give me your uniform." I held out my hand expactantly.

"W-what?"

Ugh. Confused bitch. Did I stutter?

"Sorry-not-sorry."

In the end, I took her uniform, since the participants were only opened for the students there.

Not to brag (_Nah_) but I'm really good with my hands.

If you know what I mean.

Just kidding, I'm good at those handiworks, but not labour stuff.

I could feel people around me stared at me, dumbfounded as I stacked the cups into a tower and unstacked them. I repeated this process until I got bored.

"W-woah! A-amazing...!"

The crowd's amazement wasn't doing anything to cool down my ego.

A smirk crept out my face.

I laughed mockingly when my opponent was weeping pathetically in front of me in after a humiliating defeat.

"Hahaha, loser!"

I snatched the book coupons and made a run for it just when they thought I didn't look familiar and were starting to question whether I was a student there or not.

Hiding behind the school compound, I mentally counted how many volumes I could buy.

It took a while since I had to actually count properly with my _very_ short knowledge of mathematics.

Ah.

Only one. Whatever, better than none.

I almost fell down when I felt something hit my back. I turned back and saw the boy earlier whose name I had forgotten I saw earlier.

I looked at my back and swore under my breath.

"You have a problem with me, jack arse?!" I groaned. I tried brushing off the dirt of my last good clothing.

Stolen from an innocent girl, yes. But I wasn't going to give it back, so it's mine.

Bloody hell, did this fucking dumbarse have any idea how poor I was?!

"Hell yeah I do! You cheated! You fucktard!" He spat onto the ground next to me.

"It was just a stupid cup-stacking competition! How can you cheat in that?!" I yelled, attracting the attention of the many passer-bys. "Besides, your skills clearly suck!" I stuck out my tongue. I huffed and walked away.

"Hey! Come back here!"

I whirled back to him and grabbed a metal pole on the ground. "You talk to me or ruin my shirt one more time and you'll find yourself **handless**!" I approached him threateningly, the metal pole dragging on the ground behind me.

The boy yelped. He wanted to say something, but he seemed to remember my threat. He shut his mouth and quickly ran away.

I smirked. I tossed the metal pole away and watched as others winced at the loud 'clang!'

I glared at the passerby.

"Bugger off!" They quickly adverted their gazes and went back to their usual shits.

I didn't give chase to the bloody arse since I had something much more important to do.

Buy KHR manga volume 25.

I quickly ran towards the bookstore. I almost kicked the door opened, but the manager quickly walked out and stopped me.

"Hey! Don't destroy our properties!" The manager barked. "You bloody woman! You still haven't paid off your debt!"

"Yeah, yeah, Clayton." I waved him off and entered the store anyway. He was already used to my attitude anyway.

"Ugh, it's like you're living in a pig-style." Clayton's probably talking about my muddy clothes.

"You know it."

I peered my eyes at the manga section. Ugh, where's the Reborn manga again?

"Yes! You freaking expensive thing!" I quickly grabbed the 25th volume of KHR.

I leaned against the book shelves and began reading it. I squealed every time he made an appearance.

"Bloody hell, Yamamoto! You're so damn cute!" I let out a disgustingly girly squeal. "I wanna hug you to death!"

"Hey, no free reading!" Clayton stomped near me, fuming mad.

"Calm your tits, I'm gonna buy it anyway." I shut the book tight.

"Why are you even buying Japanese?" Clayton asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Because the English version is taking forever to publish, duh." Even though I read them online already, I still liked buying them.

"Sheesh, just buy your comic and leave. You're creeping out my other customers." He groaned.

Offended, I gasped. "It's a manga! Know the bloody difference!" I rolled my eyes. "And mind you, I'm one of your most loyal customers! I even come back to this shitty dump even when you had me out last time!"

"You attacked a customer!" The old guy jabbed his finger at my forehead.

"He was going to steal a book; I fucking swear!"

Anyways, after getting into another argument with him, I finally paid for the manga and left. I took it out and continued reading (read: looking at the pretty drawings) while walking back home.

Even when crossing the road, my eyes never left the book. It was just too addicting. Especially the look in Yamamoto's sexy eyes.

"Hey, kid! Look out!"

I looked up and saw a truck nearing me, honking loudly.

"Fuc-"

I felt my body collided against the vehicle. As soon as I fell onto the ground, intense pain shot into my body.

"Quick, somebody! Call the ambulance!"

The panic screams around me gave me a major headache, as if I wasn't in enough pain. I shut my eyes tight. I could barely breathe, each breath felt like acid making its way into my guts; too much in pain to even care about the collywobbles I felt.

Everything was just a bloody pain until they all turned black.

* * *

**.**

**In another universe**

**.**

* * *

My name's Elaine de Falso, and I'm eight years old.

I have loving parents, or at least that's what Rico told me.

Rico is my older brother, whom I love very much! Though Rico tried to be with me as much as possible, he has to work all the time since he was going to be the boss of the family company.

So it's still lonely sometimes.

But I loved every moment I had with Rico. He tried to be with me as much as possible, and that was enough.

"Ela! Stop day dreaming!" The teacher whipped my table with her ruler.

"E-eek! S-sorry!" I squeaked. I was always terrified of her, since she was always targeting me. Maybe it was because I always daydream in class. That and I always got the lowest grades in class (probably in the whole school as well).

The teacher huffed. "What's the answer to the question on the blackboard, Ela?"

I gulped as I looked at the blackboard.

4+5+2=?

"U-uh..." I tried using my fingers, but I found out the answer was more than 10.

I-I can't deal with that...!

"F-fifteen?" I stammered.

"Pfft- what an idiot!" Carla, the mean girl who sat behind me laughed.

The teacher sighed. "Carla, stop making fun of your friend."

I didn't turn around, but I was sure Carla had a look of disgust. I don't know why, but she really hated me.

* * *

Waiting for Rico to pick me up from school as usual, I swung my legs as I hummed some random English song I heard on the radio. I don't know much English, but I thought it's very catchy.

Rico was really late today. It happened occasionally, but I didn't dwell on it too much.

I sighed as I looked at the school pool. I remembered how many students were excitedly swimming just now while I was just sitting at the corner all by myself.

I wanted friends, but I was too stupid and shy to make any.

I closed my eyes as I thought of their happy laughter ringing in my ears. Even though I had bad results, I had a really good memory. The teachers said I just never listened in class.

"Hey!" I opened my eyes and saw Carla with her friends behind her.

"What?" I had a bad feeling about this. Carla's smirk scared me. Before I knew it, she pulled me up forcefully by pulling my hair.

"Ow, ow, ow!"

The nearer was dragged to the pool, the more I freaked out. "S-stop! P-please!" I begged.

I heard Carla and her friends' crude laughter as I felt my whole body dunk into the water.


	2. Acceptance to the New Is Hard

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_Two dead people meet. One wakes up in a completely different situation. She tries to grasp the situation._

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**Le****sson 2: ****Acceptance to the New Is Hard**

"Yo."

I snapped open her eyes at the voice. I saw a pretty teen with black and messy hair crossing her legs sitting in front of me.

Maybe I was staring at her too much, since she asked, "Can you talk?" English… Good thing I knew some.

I quickly nodded. "H-hi." My face warmed a bit.

The teen rolled her eyes at me. "I'm Delia."

"E-Elaine de Falso."

"Woah, woah, long name." Miss Delia gapped.

I looked at the ground sheepishly.

"Anywyay, where in the bloody hell are we? I think I was knocked down by a truck or something." She groaned and flopped onto the ground.

What? She was kidding... right? But it doesn't seem so, judging from her expression.

"S-so that means you're dead?" It was impossible.

Miss Delia shrugged. "That was the last thing I remember." She pointed to me. "How about you?"

What was the last thing that happened? I remembered that Carla threw me into the pool and... and…

"I-I drowned…?"

"Woah, what?" Miss Delia jolted upright in surprise. "The shit that life throws at you, am I right?"

I stayed quiet. I wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"I don't know why we're here-" Delia gestured to the white space around us. "-but I think we're both dead and in heaven or hell-_ish_."

"W-what?" I felt faint. Being told that I might be dead was something shocking. Was this a prank?

* * *

As if it wasn't awkward enough for me, the kid with long name started sniffling. Bloody hell. Crying children weren't supposed new to me, since I was often the cause of it. But Ela seemed like one of those children who were too innocent to do bad stuffs. Such a goody-two-shoes.

I crouched in front of the kid and patted her head. "Uh… There, there." I tried thinking what adults would say to kids in this situation. "Who knows? We might not really be dead. Maybe we're just stuck in some space shit."

Ela sobbed into her hands. "I-I don't wanna die! I m-miss Rico already!" I might have made her feel worse.

Note to self: **Don't** attempt to comfort anyone anymore.

I assume Rico's her friend or something. It was bittersweet that she would be missed or would miss somebody.

I hardly had any bonds with anybody, maybe except for Clayton, but he's just a stinky old uncle and my pawn to get what I want (KHR manga).

The only thing I really cared about was my manga collection, not my life or whether I was dead or not. But that didn't mean I want to be here, this weird white space of creepiness.

I looked at Ela. Might as well start a conversation. "Hey, kid." Ela looked up with her goddamn teary eyes. "Tell me about Rico. Or anything. I'm bored."

Ela wiped her tears. "W-well…" She smiled softly.

"Rico's my older brother. H-he and my parents are always at work, so I'm always alone."

"No friends?"

Ela shook her head. "T-they say I'm too stupid and a cry-baby."

They were probably right about the latter, but the former part was just plain arsehole-ish.

People were still real bitches no matter what age.

"Like kids care about _this_." I pointed to my head, where my brain was supposed to be. "Anyway, about Rico?"

"He always tries to spend time with me as much as possible, even though he's busy." Ela grinned. "Like last year; when it was my birthday, Rico said he snuck out some money from my dad and went to buy a cupcake. He went back home and gave it to me, even though it was storming outside."

I couldn't help but smile at the brat's story. "Sounds nice." She had a good life. Too bad she's probably dead and stuck in this shit here with me.

"What about y-you?"

"Me? My life stories?" She nodded.

"Let's see… I live in a orphanage, I blackmail the owner for money to buy manga, and... I'm known for being bitchy and hated."

"O-oh…" Maybe it was too much for an innocent girl.

I cleared my throat. This morning's events seemed cute enough, minus the bloody details.

"I won a cup-stacking competition this morning, went to the bookstore…" I tried making it seemed simple. She didn't need to know the shits I had. "I crossed the road and died." I think I just contradicted myself. Ah well.

She winced. "You have it tough, Miss Delia."

_Miss _Delia? Now that's something I'd never heard. I must really be dead.

Hearing Ela's and my life out loud had made me realized something. My life was crappy.

"Yeah." Am I an arse for being envious of the brat's previously happy life?

Hell yeah. But I can't help it.

"You had- have a good brother, kid." I admit, I did imagine myself being in her shoes, and I liked it. It would be cool for a change.

"I wouldn't give him up for the whole world." Ela's innocence was blinding. I felt a pang of pity when I was sure that she would never have the chance of seeing Rico again.

I was sure I died, so she's probably dead too.

"Hey..." I tried asking her another question, but as soon as I blinked my eyes, the whole scene changed abruptly.

* * *

What the **fuck**?!

I felt water around me, maybe in my lungs too. I couldn't bear to open my eyes to see, couldn't even open my mouth to scream.

Was I freaking drowning?!

I quickly splashed up to the surface by trashing wildly and tried to gather in as much air as I could. I managed to trash my limbs until I reached the corner.

Hacking and coughing out some waters in my lungs, I saw that I was in a pool.

Wasn't I at heaven/hell-ish with the brat just now?

Exhausted from the yet another near-death experience, I stayed in the water with my upper body on the floor and stared at the ground.

Man, I almost died again.

At least I was still alive and drowning wouldn't be as painful as getting knocked down by a truck.

Wait, _drowning_?

Didn't Ela say she was drowning?

I heard heavy footsteps running towards me, but I felt too dead to care about that. He or she could kick me down back into the water, for all I care. As long as I could drag the bastard down into the water with me, I would be satisfied with my death.

To my surprise, I was hoisted out of the pool without much struggle and was laid on the floor.

I opened my eyes tiredly and saw a red-head about 12 had his face above mine.

"Stai bene?" (Are you okay?)

Huh? What was he saying?

"W-what..?"

The red-head's eyebrows arched for a second. He seemed to be thinking about something then opened his mouth. "Are you alright? You're drenched."

"Y-yeah. I think I was drowning." I sounded weird. My voice seemed higher than usual, like I just sucked in balloon gas.

The red head sat back, probably to give me some space. I assumed he was calling someone when I heard some beeping noises.

"Penso di aver trovato la tua sorella." (I think I've found your sister.)

Why the hell was he talking in some weird language?

He turned to me. "You're Ela, right?"

"No." What kind of stupid question was that?

Ela was that cry-baby brat.

I'm a badass bitch.

Red-head went back to his phone. "Penso che abbia amnesia, ha quasi annegato." (I think she has amnesia, she almost drowned.) He winced at whatever the other guy at the phone was saying.

He turned to me. "Do you want to go to the hospital?"

"Bugger off!" I managed to shout. Just leave already, weird and suspicious stranger!

He seemed surprised at me, but he went back to the phone. "Lei non vuole andare in ospedale." (She doesn't want to go to the hospital.)

"Do you feel well enough to walk?" Supporting the phone to his ear with his shoulder, he helped me sat up straight.

"..." I stood up and noticed something weird. Everything seemed huge. Did I shrink or something? Holy shit, the guy was tall. I barely stood to his torso.

Was I in the land of giants?! Probably still the aftermath of almost-drowning, hallucinating and all.

When I walked pass the pool, I took a glance at my reflection.

A brat.

I saw a brown-haired brat.

That totally wasn't me.

"Bloody hell! Is that me?!" Holy shit.

"Uh, yeah." He crouched in front of me. "I'll carry you. You don't seem healthy now."

"I am _freaking_ fine!" I stomped past him. But then I saw how foreign the entire place looked. I turned back to him. "Where are we going?"

He sighed. "Your house."

Huh? House? Did he meant the orphanage? "Um, kay...?" Maybe he's one of the children from there and I just never noticed him.

I looked around at everything, the building, signs, even the ground. They were completely different from how I remember them. Maybe I had hit my head too hard just now.

The breeze blew, making me sneezed. I hugged my arms to warm myself. God, it was so cold.

I felt something heavy around my shoulders. I looked at it and saw the jacket the red-head was wearing just now.

"Uh... Thanks." He nodded in response.

He was kind. Maybe he wasn't from the orphanage, there's nobody that nice to me there.

I felt the texture and it was real smooth and warm. Maybe it was stolen from somewhere.

If so, I would be real sure that guy was from the orphanage.

I tied the sleeves like a scarf around my neck as I dragged the jacket on the ground.

Man, I was really short.

I hope when I take a nap and wake up, everything will be back to normal.

* * *

When we arrvied to a foreign-looking place, the red-head knocked the door. I made sure to stand a few safe distance away just in case some kidnappers suddenly appearred.

The door was smashed opened. "Ela!" Before I could scream or run, a blurred figure swept me off my feet and spun me around.

"Tu stai bene! Tu stai bene!" (You're okay! You're okay!) There's some creepy ass guy attempting to hug me to death!

"Sod off!" I tried hitting him, but my hands were all wrapped up by his.

I suddenly found myself looking into his green eyes.

"Ela? Cosa c'è di sbagliato? È sempre piacciono i miei abbracci!" (Ela? What's wrong? You always like my hugs!)

Thankfully, the red-head cut in. "Rico, she doesn't seem to understand Italian, only English. And for some reason, she has an accent."

"That was Italian?" Bloody hell, was I in Italy? How the fuck did that happen?!

The red-head added, "And she's amnesic."

The guy with green eyes hugging me gasped. He put me down and looked at me in the eye.

"Are. You. Okay?" He said slowly.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah." I wasn't actually amnesic, but that seemed to be the easier choice.

He grabbed my hands. "Holy crap, your hands are cold!" And that was saying something, I was still drenched and stuff.

His expressions seemed pained for a bit and let my hands go. "Yeah, it was always like this." He patted my head. "Are you sure you don't remember anything?"

I nodded.

Green-eyes seemed upset, but his mood turned a 180 degree in a moment. "That's fine!" He laughed. "That means I get to be with you until you get all better!"

"Who are you?" This guy was too kind to a stranger like me.

He seemed to freeze for a while, but that may had been my imagination. "Hahaha, how silly of me! I'm Rico, your brother. That's my friend, Pietro, who you've never met until today!"

"R-Rico?" Wasn't Rico the so-called dear brother of Ela? Does that r_eally _mean I was in Ela's body now?

Rico nodded. "And you're my adorable little sister, Ela!"

Shit.

_Shhiiiiittttttt._

He wrapped his hands around me without warning. "Pietro and I will be your Italian teachers until you get better!" He said in a sing-song tone.

Was I still bound to learning even after death? And an entirely new language at that?

"I hope we get along well." Pietro said monotonously.

How was my previous life? Full of bugger.

Now?

It's a whole new crap.

* * *

**Gokudera might appear within the next two chapters. Hopefully.**

**There's some british termed used.**


	3. There's Lots of Good People In the World

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_Delia- no, Ela bonds with people who are supposedly close to her; her brother, Rico, and his friend, Pietro. She has an awkward encounter with the people who are supposedly her parents. She met the person who supposedly killed her._

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* * *

**Lesson 3: There's Lots of Good People In the World**

I noticed something upon observing Pietro for almost an hour. Want me to share some of my knowledge?

Pietro would bite his lips when he's happy to suppress a smile or laughter.

When he's upset, he would scratch his head and his eyebrows would start twitching, though the latter wasn't noticeable.

When frustrated, he would stare into the air as if trying to figure out whether jumping out the window from the second floor would be enough to kill him.

Like now.

"Repeat after me." Pietro said.

I nodded. "Uh-huh."

"Buon giorno." (Good morning.)

"Bone-george-no." I said in a flat tone.

If I did any different, Pietro would think I was shitting with him. And even though he's not really a bad guy, I didn't want to get on his bad side; he was just so much more physically fit and taller than me.

**Curse** my wimpy body.

Pietro stayed quiet for a while before standing up. "Break for five minutes." He walked out the door whilst scratching his head.

I stared at the door for a moment, trying to make sense what the bloody hell happened ever since the pool incident again. It had been almost a week since. As Rico and Pietro had promised, they took turns in teaching me Italian and taking care of me.

* * *

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**Yesterday**

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* * *

It was Rico's turn to teach me Italian. But instead of being at home like usual, he brought me to a fancy-looking building.

"This is one hell of a place." I felt my jaw dropped, but I couldn't care less about it.

Rico frowned. In a nagging manner, he said, "Watch your language, it's unlady-like."

"Now, I'll bring you to my office!" He smiled and grabbed my hand. I had learnt by then that resistance was futile; given my wimpy 7-year-old body again his 11-year-old one. So I merely followed beside him as we walked past the automatic sliding door.

I saw a chick (I mean as in female human, not the adorable little chicken) behind the counter in a smart-ish suit.

She was typing furiously on her keyboard and staring at the computer screen intently. The silent whole hall was literally filled with her tapping.

"Ciao, Sheila!" Rico went over to the older woman while holding my hand.

Surprisingly, instead of ignoring Rico like expected, she immediately tore her eyes off the screen and turned to Rico. "Ciao, Signore Rico." She smiled politely.

I was lifted off the ground and before I knew it, I was almost face to face with Sheila. I decided to greet her, Italian style. "Ciao. Ela sono." (Ciao. Ela I am.) So maybe my Italian wasn't perfect, but I praise myself for being able to say something.

Sheila arched an eyebrow and eyed me as if it was wrong for me to get something simple wrong. Bitch didn't know the shit I had gone through.

But before I could growl or attack her, Rico pulled me away and said, "Dillo a mamma e papà sono qui con Ela!" (Tell mama and papa I'm here with Ela!)

I was still sulking over that Sheila bitch, but I shook it off. "Where's Pietro?"

"He's with his family today." Rico answered.

"Oh." I sometimes would think that Pietro was actually part of the family, since they were really close.

Wait a minute… "Are you guys a gay couple?"

Rico's first reaction was to laugh, but it was cut off when he froze.

His hand became colder than usual. "No! We're just friends!"

"Uh-huh, sure."

* * *

Sitting on a giant comfy chair, I was doodling some ice-creams on a piece of scrap paper Rico gave me since he was too busy to teach me Italian.

I looked at Rico managing the papers about something. I couldn't help but eye the laptop, since its screen was out of my view. I was sort of curious about the family business when I thought how nobody had actually told me what it was.

Before I could voice out my question, there was a knock on the door. "Signore Rico, i tuoi genitori richiesta per la vostra presenza nel loro ufficio." (Signore Rico, your parents requested for your presence in their office.)

"Bene!" (Okay!) Rico got up and ruffled my head before leaving. "Don't mess with anything!"

Why was he talking to me as if I'm just a kid? Maybe that's because I looked like one. It annoyed me, but honestly, I didn't mind it that much.

I got bored waiting for him after a second and a bit hungry from the ice-cream doodles. I went down my seat and sat on Rico's. I wanted to use the laptop and go check on my tumblr or some KHR manga updates. But when I looked at the laptop, I saw some suspicious looking profiles.

"Reina Avidita... m-morto..." Morto? I think it meant 'dead'. I had a closer look at his face. He seemed like a gangster, scar lines all over his face and all.

I started scrolling them down while scanning their faces. The details were in Italian, so I could only understand a tiny bit of it. But overall, they seemed liked bad guys who were either dead, MIA (missing-in-action) or alive. Well, they were the only words I could recognize.

Why would the 'family business' have something like this?

Rico walked into the room. "Hey, Ela-" His breath seemed to got stuck in his throat when he saw me with his laptop.

I retreated my hands and smiled innocently. "I swear I didn't touch anything." Seeing as he wasn't buying it, I asked, "So uh... the profiles."

"What about them?" He sounded uncharacteristically cold.

Move the rusted gears in your brain! Think of something that innocent-Ela would say!

He had profiles about criminals (Judging from their faces, they should be. And believe me, as a no-good bitch at heart, I know these sorts of people when I see them) for some reason.

"So you're like a police?" That seemed logical. That would explain the profiles.

Rico's mood brightened up. "Yup! Cool, right?"

I was relieved he wasn't upset anymore. "Yeah, sure." His mood swings were like a woman on period.

* * *

I was introduced to two serious-looking people with an aura that held authority that demanded respect.

"So, Ela, they're our mama and papa!" Rico pushed me towards the two strangers.

I was previously an orphan. After dying, I suddenly gained a surprisingly nice brother.

Now I had parents? This was all too much.

"... Hi." The two so-called parents of mine seemed as if they were trying to rip my souls apart by staring into my eyes.

"How are you?" 'Mama' asked. I could see the concern on her expression.

"Oh, fine, fine. The usual." _Still_ all fucked up from the whole I-was-dead-but-I'm-somehow-alive-again thing, thank you very much.

We stayed quiet again. Even Rico seemed uncomfortable with it.

My 'dad' finally spoke after some intense staring. "I heard you have amnesia."

Oh right, the amnesia thing. "Yup." I shouldn't have replied so shortly, since it was awkward silence all over again.

That would probably be the last I see of my 'parents' for a while.

* * *

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**Present**

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* * *

Pietro came back with two glasses of water. He handed me one of them.

"Why are my... parents so awkward-ish?" I asked.

Pietro arched an eyebrow. "They're just serious and busy." How was that any different?

"Anyway, tell me something about my past."

"Why don't you ask Rico?" He asked.

"He's always managing his papers and teaching me Italian, he hardly had time for casual talk." I said.

"Well..." He thought for a while for what to say. "Rico told me that he didn't really like you at first. Since your parents are always busy, they would push you onto him. And you know how kids are with responsibilities."

Wasn't Pietro a kid as well, even now?

"Your first word wasn't 'mama' or 'papa'." He said. "Instead, it was 'Rico', which made your brother touched and stuff."

It's funny how one word could change his attitude towards me. Just imagine how different it would be if I uttered out something different.

* * *

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**Four months later**

.

* * *

Too bad that Rico didn't bring me to the company anymore. I couldn't sneak for the laptop in Rico's office. I **needed **to check the KHR manga updates, and it was killing me! I tried sneaking out of the house, but the boys always caught me red-handed.

Anyway, I was going to Ela's school, after Rico and Pietro deemed my Italian to be good enough. That's funny, considering how I couldn't even pronounce 'good morning' properly until after a week.

Having Ela's apparently good memory did helped a bunch of troubles in adapting and learning the ways of Italians.

"Now-" Rico patted my shoulders before gently urging me into the school premise. "-you be good, okay?"

"... Don't stay near the water." Pietro said. He was with me so often, I seriously felt like he was a second brother.

"Yeah, sure."

I waved them off and went into the room. But unlike most of my empty promises I'd made in both my past and present lives, I intended to at least _try _to keep the ones I made just now.

Rico was an important person to the brat. I felt the need to at least behave somewhat for both her and the poor guy.

I was somewhat expecting some kids to approach and ask where was I for the past few months, but the students and teachers just went on with their business as if I wasn't there.

Huh. So Ela wasn't kidding when she said she didn't have any friend.

A tinge of pity crawled into me. In my previous life, people would at least give a reaction at my sudden presence (Though it was mostly scorns and angry grunts). Either way, I didn't think anyone would remember Ela either, seeing how quiet she was.

I heard footsteps behind me, but I ignored it. As far as I know, kids or teachers were trouble. So I tried summoning my inner-patience that was probably burried deep down in some bloody ditch inside me.

Somebody grabbed my shoulder and I was whiped backwards around, facing another girl around my height (Not that tall, I was in a seven-year old's body after all)

"Hey, cry-baby!" I could hear the mockery dripping from her high-pitched girly arse voice.

I already hate her.

But I thought of what Ela might do. I hardly know her that well, but it's just an assumption.

Smile, greet the arsehole, and walk away.

I forced the ends of my lips upwards. "... Hi." Then smacked her hands away from my shoulders.

I was about to walk away until she cried out, "I hope you had fun the other day in the water!"

My feet froze. I had always thought that Ela just slipped into the pool out of stupidity or something, but knowing somebody had _intentionally _tried to kill her was just...

"You... _You _pushed a pitiful brat into the pool?"

"Yeah, but the pitiful brat's you! Why? You're angry?" My back was faced to her, but I was sure she was smirking. She was fucking proud of her deed.

Why that little **bitch**.

* * *

"You promised me you wouldn't get into trouble, Ela!" Rico scolded. "You were in there for barely 5 minutes and you already got into a fight!"

"That little bitch asked for it." I had little bruises, but I managed to land some pain onto her, thanks to my experiences. Though I hardly feel satisfied by just scratching all over her face or almost pulling out her tooth.

Pietro stated out. "I didn't know you could get suspended as a first grader."

Me too. I'm more amazing than I thought.

Rico slapped a hand over his head. "Ugh, since when did you become such a troublemaker?"

I couldn't hear much, but I heard him muttering something like, "... Disappointed."

Guilt filled me. I didn't want Rico to be upset with Ela, that was the last thing I needed. I didn't mean to make Ela's dearest person upset with her.

What have I done?

My eyes burned for some reason.

"E-Ela?!" Rico cried out in panic. I couldn't really see him, since my view was sorta blurred.

I wiped my eyes and it felt wet. I looked at my hands and yes, I confirmed- tears.

Bloody hell? I hardly cried, like ever. Maybe it was Ela's emotional-self affecting me more than I like it.

A handkerchief went to my face. Whoever was holding it wiped my face roughly and I swore it could break my nose any second now.

"Ow."

The handkerchief immediately retracted and I saw Pietro holding it with his usual stoic face. Though I could see bit of worries in his eyes. "Sorry." He mutttered.

Rico crouched down in front of me and wrapped me around his arms. "Sorry, Ela. Didn't mean to make you cry."

"I wasn't crying!" I said in defense, which was technically true. I mean, it was _Ela's _body, not mine.

Rico pulled back and grinned. "Sure, sure."

Pietro said, "Though you have to admit, she does know a few moves."

"Thanks...?"

"But it was messy and uncoordinated."

I stayed quiet and glared at Pietro. At least I know how to fight bitches. If I fight him here now, I'd definitely lose. He had a well-built body and Rico was there to stop me.

I couldn't help but feel Pietro's trying to say something.

"Rico, I know a way to get her to learn self-defense and discipline at the same time." Uh-oh. I was right, I'm fucking sure of it.

"Oh yeah? What?" Rico asked.

I saw Pietro's hardly noticeable smirk. "Have her take up a martial art."

"Oh, fuck no!"

* * *

I was at least given the choice of choosing the martial arts I wanted. So I chose taekwondo.

Why?

It has the word 'WTF' written at the back of the uniform, what's _not_ to like?

Apparently, I was going to be coached by someone around my age. Though being instructor-level at this age was rather impressive.

"Move it, I'm not wasting more time than necessary with you brats!" I heard a growl following some kid's hollering. He was probably the coach.

Other children scrambled to their feet in fear while I lazily got up. I looked for the kid with a black belt and to my bloody surprise-

"What are you staring at?!"

Before me was a brat who **really **resembled Gokudera Hayato, a cast from KHR.

"Bloody hell."

* * *

**Reply:**

**AkaMizu-chan:**

**Ikr? The reincarnation thing has been like hot cakes lately! I couldn't help but feel the need to write something! The meeting with Carla (The kid who pushed Ela into the pool) wasn't as bloody as I initially expected, but I had to consider how they _were_ still little brats and how they would be easilyy pulled away from each other. Ela would be pulled into the mafia eventually. Huhuhu... -insert smirk here- Ah, dearie, I love you so much for being the story's first reviewer! -hugs and kisses inserted-**


	4. Hold On to Your Friends

**OMFG I HAD ACCIDENTALLY UPLOADED CHAPTER 4 OF MY OTHER STORY AND I DIDN'T FOUND OUT UNTIL A WHILE AGO QJ (#NRIQQ**

* * *

_._

_._

_._

_Ela meets a 'puppy' who reminds her a lot of a fictional character from a manga. Despite his bad temper, Ela couldn't help but befriend the boy who loves to snatch her chocolates. But it seems her brother wasn't all that happy with the boy._

_._

_._

_._

* * *

**Lesson 4: Hold On to Your Friends**

I took a bite of the chocolate I found just this morning while watching the Gokudera-look-alike barking out instructions at other brats.

It tasted a little too sweet for my taste, but I wasn't one to complain.

The Gokudera look-alike glared at the kid with a yellow belt who looked as if he was about to piss his own pants.

"Your position is hardly perfect!"

"B-but-"

"A hundred push-ups!" The Gokudera-look alike shouted. The other kid flinched and weepily got onto the ground.

I admit it's a bit funny to watch the torture, as long as I wasn't the one getting bitten.

I might have jinx myself, since his eyes immediately met mine. His glare intensified a shitload, and it was on par with some of the ones I saw in my previous life.

"You!" He pointed at me. Tons of eyes followed his gaze and fell onto me.

"What?" The whole situation may have been intimidating enough to make any kids around here shit bricks, but _I_ was different.

I was mentally a teenager (Though I was starting to doubt that reviewing what I had done the past few days), supposedly more mature than any of them here.

"Don't just sit there! And your belt is tied all wrongly!"

"Excuse you, I'm still a newbie." I scoffed.

I loosened the belt and tied it back, unintentionally making it messier than before.

I groaned in frustration and after untying it, I threw it onto the ground. "I don't need to tie it correctly to learn this shit!"

"You can barely tie it correctly and you want to learn this?!" He scolded.

"I didn't even wanna learn this **shit**!" I wasn't going to let a brat scold me.

I was too prideful for that!

When the Gokudera-look-alike raised his fists, I immediately balled my fists to fight back out of reflex.

But an adult restricted the brat before he could do anything.

"Let me go!" The grumpy brat trashed around, giving the adult restraining him an even harder time.

The adult had a just-kill-me look. "I thought I said no more fighting!"

"She's a moronic brat!"

I didn't exactly know what happen next, but all I know everything was a blur when I jumped onto the **black-belt** brat with my fists readied.

* * *

So yeah, I learned how to actually tie the belt properly. But that was after countless threats (from both the adult and the brat) and beatings (courtesy of the said brat only).

I'm **so** suing this him for abuse. Rico's like a police, so I could arrest him.

I would tell on Gokudera-look-alike to Rico like the bitch I am.

As a punishment, the Gokudera-look-alike and I were forced to run for like, 10 laps. His was 30 laps though, since it apparently wasn't his first offence here. Hahaha.

But that didn't make it easier for me to run since I suddenly had this _bloody _pain shot into my stomach.

_THUD!_

I collapsed from the pain and fatigue onto the cool, _cool _ground.

"Ah…" I groaned.

"… Sweet dirty… freaking ground…"

I rolled over my back and watched the roof. I closed my eyes and tried to snooze it off.

I grimaced when I remembered he had ran past me for the third time (How the bloody hell was he running that fast?!).

Not so long later, I heard footsteps behind me. I didn't bother to open up my eyes, since I knew who it would be already.

"You do know you're not even finished with two laps."

"No shit…"

He might have shifted awkwardly, but I snapped at him, "Just go already!"

"I don't need you to tell me!"

I took a peek when he ran past me. I had seen he hesitated slightly when he glanced at me.

Odd enough, the Gokudera-look-alike didn't run past me for a while.

Eventually, the adult from before went to my side and brought me to a room.

"Hayato told me you collapsed." He explained.

I arched an eyebrow. The name was somewhat familiar…

"Who?"

"He's the kid who ran with you."

Hayato…

_Hayato_..?

Wasn't Gokudera's given name 'Hayato'?

It's creepy how the brat I just met seemed so much like a character from the manga I loved.

* * *

First day of taekwondo consisted of:

1- Fighting with Hayato.

2- Running _not two_ laps before collapsing.

3- Laughing at other brats who were worse than me while using the incident earlier as an excuse to avoid practice.

It had sucked majorly, but I was _so_ freaking glad this was done for now.

I watched as the other kids went to their parents or whatever while telling how awesome and shit they were in practice when in reality, they all got their arses whooped by Hayato.

Some others who had yet to go back talked with their friends but me. Though I wasn't the only one playing lone wolf.

"Yo."

Hayato jumped slightly at my voice and whipped his head to my direction with a menacing glare.

I shrugged it off and plopped down next to him. I noticed his expression froze before scurrying off slightly away from me.

Throughout the practice after collapsing, Hayato had been ignoring me. Maybe that was because he felt bad?

"Is your name Hayato?"

He answered me with a huff before looking elsewhere.

"I'm talking to you." I poked his arm.

"Hey."

_Poke_.

"Hey."

_Poke_.

"Answer me, jack arse."

_Poke_.

Hayato snapped at me. "What do you want?!"

"… What's your name? Is it Hayato?"

He looked at me dumbfounded. "Yes. Now go away and don't bother me."

"Is somebody grumpy because he's hungry?" I said in a fake cooing voice.

Hayato's cheeks were dusted with light pink. "Shut up." He grumbled.

I took out a half-eaten chocolate bar from my pocket. "I found this under some dark corner in my house. But I ate some earlier and I'm still here all well, so I think it's safe."

"I don't need it." Yet, he took a glance at it before turning away.

I poked him in the ribs one more time.

Hayato's head snapped at me to shout at me in anger, so I took the chance to shove the chocolate into his mouth.

He coughed harshly and spat the chocolate into his hands. "What-"

"Just eat the god damn thing already! It has your saliva, so don't think I'll want it back!"

We stayed still for a while, glaring at each other before he finally took a small bite of the chocolate.

That was the start of our friendship.

"It's covered in dust." He complained.

I think.

"Ah, so that's why I had stomach pain."

Hayato muttered, "I'm sure I can handle a few germs if I can survive with poison."

**Poison**? Seriously? He's getting more and more like Gokudera from KHR.

"What?"

The little shit replied rudely, "None of your business!"

* * *

Did I mention I often got injured in taekwondo? (Though it was mostly minor bruises)

Since Hayato was always going back by himself after practice (Rico or Pietro would always be late, busy with something), he would sometimes stay later and help me with my injuries while lecturing me on how stupid I was.

Just today, my teeth got knock out when that stupid kid was practicing his high kick and well, you know what happened next. Luckily for me, only two of my front teeth fell out instead of the whole set.

My hands went to my mouth and I touched the empty spaces where my teeth were supposed to be. I glared at the brat, obviously angered.

"You bloody brat-"

Odd enough, when I saw my own blood on my fingers, I suddenly felt light-headed and my feet went all jelly-like.

I dropped down onto my knees and felt this massive feeling of fear.

I couldn't hear anything around me, only the sound of my thumping heart.

I saw a familiar a silver-head crouching beside me.

Who? Was it Hayato?

I don't know, my brain felt messed up.

Lifting my head up, yes, I did saw Hayato.

His mouth was moving, but I heard nothing.

Before I could do anything, I shut my eyes and felt my consciousness slowly fading.

* * *

"It fasn't mah dam faur dah brat kict mah in dah fah!" (It wasn't my damn fault the damn brat kicked me in the face!)

"That means your reflexes are just t_hat _terrible!" Hayato huffed. "Why did you faint?"

Actually, it was kinda incredible that he understood me with little trouble when adults just stared at me in confusion when I talked.

I crossed my arms in defense. "I dih nor." (I did not). After a few moments of recollecting my memories, I added, "... I fink." (I think.)

Hayato arched an eyebrow. "You were fine when you had your teeth kicked out. You were even attempting to attack him." He dug his pocket and got out two white little things. Wait, were those my teeth?

"Hey- You're turning pale again!"

I shut my eyes tightly and massaged my temples. I felt sick **again**. And at the sight of my bloody teeth.

"... Are you actually haemophobic?"

Still keeping my eyes shut, I asked him, "The herr? Homofokic?" (The hell? Homophobic?)

I could practically _feel _Hayato rolling his eyes. "Haemophobic, fear of blood."

Before I could laugh my head off (Seriously? I was a yankee, more or less, and you're saying I was scared at the sight of blood?), I decided to prove that arse wrong.

I opened my eyes and snatched the teeth out of Hayato's hands. I immediately regretted it, since I quickly got up and threw up my lunch at some corner.

"Ugh, broodeh herr." (Ugh, bloody hell.) I tossed my teeth away into some garden wihtout looking at it anymore.

I turned back and saw Hayato staring at me. "You're stupid."

"Therr meh somfing ah dfon knou."(Tell me something I don't know.) I wiped my mouth with my sleeves. I lied down near the entrance to wait for Rico and Pietro.

"Tarr to meh, seh somfing befuh I puf afaihn." (Talk to me, say something before I puke again.)

Hayato then sat next to me. "Uh... How's school?" He asked.

He would sometimes ask me about school, since apparently, he's homeschooled and rich so he's sorta curious about my social life. And yet, despite the latter fact, he always seemed hungry to me.

So began my rant.

"… And fen the littah bith Carla shuck out her bloofy foot to trif me, but I dit the right fing." (… And then the little bitch Carla stuck out her bloody foot to trip me, but I did the right thing.)

Hayato arched an eyebrow and stayed silent to decipher my words. "If it's you, I doubt the things you do are 'right'."

I was supposed to gasp or weep in offence, but I shrugged. "I juf _ashidenfarry_ stef on heh foot and she hat to go beth earleh." (I just _accidentally _stepped on her foot and she had to go back early.)

Hayato snorted and I grinned smugly.

He was the only who I could tell the bitch fights I had with Carla (Which sadly, were the only interesting events I could tell). Rico and Pietro would have a fit if I told them.

A girl with pink hair with gothic Lolita-styled dress approached us.

"Hayato."

Hayato flinched and he shakily turned to the girl.

"S-sis."

"I was waiting for you to come back, but you were a lot later than usual."

"I just… lost track of time." Hayato was hesitant.

The girl's eyes landed on me. Her eyes switched from Hayato and I before smiling brightly.

"I'm so glad Hayato has a friend!" Before either of us could say anything, she wrapped her arms around me without warning. "Take care of my brother, okay?"

"Suh…" (Sure…) I muffled throu

gh her sleeves. She smelled of… Weird stuff that I just can't describe.

The girl let go of me and gasped. "What happened to your teeth?!" Her eyes snapped towards Hayato.

"I didn't do anything!" He shouted in defense. His voice shook and I heard (dare I say?) slight fear.

"Nuh, it wah some ofer bastah." (Nah, it was some other bastard.)

She had to think for a second to decipher my teeth-less language. "Oh, you poor girl." She patted my head.

"Don't worreh, I kit hif arf." (Don't worry, I kicked his arse.) Almost, anyway.

She smiled at me.

"Hey! Ela!"

Footsteps rushed behind me and I was suddenly lurched into the sky. "Oh broodeh herr!" (Oh bloody hell!) I screeched in shock.

Rico laughed and brought me back to the ground beside him. "You're making friends-" He froze when he saw Hayato and his sisters for some reason.

"Thif is my brofer, Rico." (This is my brother, Rico.) I said.

Hayato's sister nodded. "Hello, I'm Bianchi." She urged Hayato to talk, but all he did was to grumble, "I hate people older than me."

"Where are my manners?" Rico said. He held out a hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Bianchi smiled and shook it.

* * *

"What happened to your teeth?!" Rico grasped onto my shoulders. I held the urge to roll my eyes; took him long enough to notice my missing teeth. We were almost home, about 10 minutes.

"Some affident haffend, buck I'm suh theh'll groh bash." (Some accident happened, but I'm sure they'll grow back.)

"You can tell me who it wa-"

"No fenks. It's no bif dear." (No thanks. It's no big deal.) I was tempted to see what Rico would do with his somewhat authority as a police, but I knew that he didn't have that much power yet and it would be bloody troublesome.

We stayed quiet for a while as I was thinking about Hayato's older sister, Bianchi.

It was odd, because Hayato was getting more and **more **like _Gokudera_ (That's sorta confusing). That would explain his slight fear for his sister, since Bianchi was always feeding Gokudera poison shits.

But _this _and _that _were two totally different matters.

When we reached home, Rico asked me to sit down on the couch (Which was code for: You did something wrong, so we shall talk about it).

But what he said caught me off-guard.

"Is the silver-haired kid your friend?" Rico asked with unusual seriousness that got me nervous.

"Hayafo? Werr, somewhaf. He'f akfuarry thah coaf." (Hayato? Well, somewhat. He's actually the coach.)

Rico immediately crouched down in front of me. His green eyes seemed to be glaring into my blue ones.

"You should- no, you **must **avoid him!" Panic arose into his voice.

"Why?"

"He's dangerous!"

As a rebel, there's nothing more I hate than being told to do something that I don't want to.

"Why shouf I?! He meh be an arfe, but he's mah frienf!" (Why should I?! He may be an arse, but he's my friend!)

I stomped up the stairs in anger. I went into my room made sure to slam the door loudly before locking it.

To anyone else beside me, Hayato might look like a Yankee or a bad influence, but I knew he was just a baby that had an unchanged dirty diaper since forever and was just a grumpy little arse.

Wait, did I just call him my _friend_?

* * *

**(Note: Delia regards Hayato and Gokudera as two completely different person with just some weird coincidences, btw)**

**REPLY:**

**NyanNyan-suru:**

Ah, I'm glad my shameless advertising on dA has worked! XP As of Ela's soul, I'm still trying to figure out where it should go, she might even play a part in future chapters, who knows.


	5. A Friend's Innocence Is Hard To Spoil

**Though there's much followers and favourites (Really, thank you, you lovelies) there's little reviews. BUT, I'm still glad that people read this crap anyway!**

**So to show my appreciation, this is a shout-out to:**

**Reviewers: AkaMizu-chan, NyanNyan-suru, unlimited tears**

**Favourites: 1827alouette6927, AkaMizu-chan, Anna13542, BleachedShadow, BloodyTitanslayer7, FiaaaVIP, LucediDio, PinappleFairyWithAFroggy**(Love your name, btw),** Ragnz, coldgazeproduction, creven16, shadowdragonspirit, shiro rose**

**Followers: 4shikii, 1827alouette6927, AkaMizu-chan, BleachedShadow, BloodyTitanslayer7, Cheingjx2013, Eovin, FiaaaVIP, HannahsBananas, HawthornShadow, HoneyGrl, KHRandHxHforevs, Kiessence, Lotori, LucediDio, Lumina13, Lynnioa, MidnightStar64, Nightmist96, NyanNyan-suru, PinappleFairyWithAFroggy, Saphire Castor, Silvenstien, Xeao, abc123pie, badassbard21, coldgazeproduction, iluvfairytale, khrforeverloveU, koreanlover21873, shadowdragonspirit, shina15yuki98, shiro rose, unlimited tears**

* * *

**Lesson 5: A Friend's Innocence Is Hard To Spoil**

I was walking home with Rico from another bloody day at taekwondo. Taekwondo this time was slightly different, since I was tested for a yellow belt- and guess what?

I bloody passed!

Well, it was actually a white belt with yellow stripes. But I did achieve something totally incredible.

Needless to say, Hayato had helped me more than humanly possible. So I decided to return the favour. Even if the arse wasn't there at the actual day of the test to witness my grace.

"Rico, do you have any more of the chocolates that I usually bring to taekwondo class?" Hayato ate my last one last week.

That's right, I was talking normally again! You know why? My teeth grew back, no more of people looking at me as if I was talking gibberish or late replies (They're trying to decipher my message).

But the two newly grown teeth were a bit bigger than my others, so Hayato had went from calling me 'stupid' to 'stupid squirrel'.

"Chocolate? Did it have the name, '_volpe'_ on it?" Rico asked.

"Yeah."

Rico grinned. "You like it that much?"

I nodded, a bit unsure. I was pretty okay with it, but Hayato was the one who was munching on it most of the time. But every time I brought up Hayato, Rico would get upset.

"Aww, Ela has a sweet tooth!" Rico cooed as if that was the most adorable thing in the world. Shut up, don't talk about teeth, I'm still self-conscious about my buckteeth.

I couldn't come up with some smartarse reply so I stayed quiet. I didn't particularly like sweet things. If anything, Hayato was the one who did.

Rico pulled me to a different route from usual. "I know a good place for ice-cream for the cute girl who has her own yellow belt!"

I rolled my eyes. "Yay." One treat was better than none, I guess.

* * *

"A double scoop of vanilla and peppermint for this little girl and a single-scooped for me, please." Rico said to the ice-cream guy.

Ice-cream guy nodded and scooped my ice-cream first. He handed it to me and said, "Here's for the little lady!" He added a pedo-looking grin.

"Uh, thanks." I hesitantly accepted it. I wondered if he added anything fishy into it.

_Ring… Ring…_

"Pardon me." Rico took out his phone from his pocket. His calm expression hardened when he saw the caller.

It must have been somebody from the company. Rico was always different when it's involved for some reason. Eh, police business wasn't shit to be kid, I guess.

I took this as an opportunity to leave; ice-cream guy was starting to creep me out. As I left, I realized something.

This would be the very first time I'm walking outside on my own.

Hell yeah.

I started brisk walking to… somewhere, I don't know. I just wanted to look at how Italy was before Rico noticed I'm gone.

I halt to a stop when I saw a familiar silver-head sitting on the ground by the corner by himself like an emo.

Hayato was getting up and leaving, so I did the most logical thing to do; I followed him while singing _I Will Follow Him _mentally. That's right, the song that managed to pull of creepy stalker behavior as cute.

_I will follow him_

_Follow him wherever he may go_

_And near him I always will be_

_For nothing can keep me away_

_He is my destiny_

Hayato had paused for a while, but I just brushed it off as an imagination. I skipped a few verse and continued.

_I love him, I love him, I love him,_

_And where he goes I'll follow, I'll follow, I'll follow_

Eh? Where did Hayato go? I swear he was right _there _in front of me a while ago.

"You _do _know you're singing out loud."

"HOLY SH-" A hand slapped onto my mouth.

I realized the voice belonged to Hayato. I turned around and true, I saw him glaring at me. "You're too loud, stupid squirrel!" He whispered harshly.

I pulled his hands off. "Geez, sorry, playing hide-and-seek, are we?" I noticed how tired and pale (Even more so than usual) he looked and battered his clothes were. There were even some noticeable purple bruises on him.

"Were you rolling in the dirt these few days? That would explain why you weren't there when I was having the taekwondo test."

"That's beca-"

"Damn you, by the way." I cut him off.

Hayato punched my arm harshly. "Ow, you bloody arse!"

"Stop yapping already!"

I rolled my eyes. "_Fine_. Start talking."

Hayato sighed in uncharacteristic depression (It was normally frustration) "I ran away from home."

Wasn't Hayato like, a rich kid who lived in a mansion? At least, that was what I think being rich meant. But it didn't seem appropriate to mock him now.

"Uh… Why?" I urged him to explain.

"It was my birthday few days ago-"

"Happy belated birthday." I blurted without much thought. I covered my mouth when he glared at me. "Whoops. Go on."

"And I overheard a bunch of maids gossiping-

I opened my mouth to say something, but Hayato's glare shut me up. He railed himself to calm down for some reason, as if he was about to reveal something deep.

"I discovered that the piano teacher I had... when I was 3 years old died... and was my mother." Hayato held back a choke as tears started filling his eyes.

There was just too much sadness in **one** sentence. The broken expression on Hayato was more than enough for me to know that.

"Hayato…" I tried figuring out what to say. I _didn't_ know how it felt like to lose the one person you loved most, or at least should. I didn't have the right to say something like, "I understand" or "I'm sorry to hear that", that would be plain rude and insincere.

Hayato wiped his eyes in frustration. "I-I'm not crying!"

"Yeah, real convincing with the red eyes. I believe you." Unintentional sarcasm was dripping in my voice.

Before Hayato could bitch at me or anything, I handed the almost melting ice-cream at him.

"Here. I don't really like sweet things anyway." Before he could refuse, I said, "Come on. Ice-cream is comfort food for girls, everybody knows that."

"I'm a boy." Hayato huffed, still a bit teary-eyed.

"You have the temper of a girl." I replied.

Nudging him with the ice-cream, I said, "Don't make me shove it into your mouth again."

His fingers touched mine when he reached for the cone and he shivered, "Why are you so cold?"

"I was holding the cone too long…?" And here I thought Hayato was smart.

Hayato began inspecting the cone. "Your body temperature was always this low, even after vigorous activities."

Really? I never noticed. Maybe it was like Rico's. "Genetics, maybe." That, or hidden ice power.

That wasn't enough to lift the curious stare from Hayato. "Maybe that's why the ice-cream hasn't melted this much under this hot sun."

"Anyway, just _how _did you survive here?" As far as I knew, living on the streets wasn't easy, especially if you're a kid, let alone a rich one.

Even though I was mostly living in the orphanage, it didn't mean that there wasn't days I got bitchier than usual and ran away or got kicked out.

Life at the street is hard. Trust me, I know.

You had to make sure your organs were still intact when you woke up, fight off perverted punks, don't get caught when you're stealing crap, and if you're lucky, you get to find something that seemed edible from the dumpster and survive for another day.

"I took some money before leaving the mansion-" I _knew_ this bastard lived in a mansion. "-and slept behind the bushes." Hayato looked at the ice-cream as if he didn't have the heart to eat it.

I wreck my mind as to what I should do now; obviously, I can't leave this pitiful kid all alone here.

"Why don't you stay at my place?"

Hayato's eyes widened. "I-I…" He hesitated. "I can't. Your brother hates me."

"Sure you might have caught Rico glaring at you a few times before, but it doesn't mean he hates your guts." I was just blatantly lying to a kid, wasn't I? "You can just follow me home, it's not far from here. And Rico's hardly home."

"…" Hayato seemed to be thinking about it.

"You don't have anything else to lose, right?"

Hayato stilled hesitated, but slowly replied, "… Fine…"

I could jump in glee, but I reminded myself that this boy just realized his mother was dead and restrained myself.

"Great! With that said, I should go look for Rico now!" I got up and gestured him to follow me. "And finish that ice-cream, it'd be a waste."

Hayato rolled his eyes. "I know, I know." He got up and continued eating the ice-cream.

* * *

I looked around for Rico around the ice-cream stall and made sure to avoid the ice-cream guy. "Be careful, I think he's pedophilic." I whispered to Hayato while pointing to the creepy arse.

"You're just being paranoid-"

"Oh, hey! Rico!" I ran not too fast since I had to make sure Hayato didn't lose sight of us. I saw a blonde girl a bit older than Rico looking at him in a flirtatious manner.

"You're cute."

Rico smiled uncomfortably. "Uh, thanks? Anyway, have you seen-"

"All I see is you."

That had definitely sent shivers down my spine and Rico's. So I decided to cut in before anything else goes more awkward. I didn't want to meet my future sister-in-law yet, Rico's still too young.

I tugged Rico's pants. "Hi."

Rico immediately turned to me. "Ela! Where were you?! I was so worried!"

"Toilet. Now I wanna go home."

The blondie crouched down to my eye level. "Maybe you should go play-"

"I wanna go home." Trying to chase _me _away? From my (Ela's) brother? Yeah right, bitch.

Her eyes twitched slightly. "You spoiled little-"

"Rico, she's bullying me!" I cried.

She jumped back in surprise. "I did no such thing!" She froze when Rico placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Have you met Ela? She's my _dear _sister. I tolerate no harm towards her."

* * *

I had a feeling I won't be seeing blondie for a long while. But _shit,_ who knew Rico could be _that _bloody scary.

He knocked a rhythm on the door of my room.

"Ela?" I heard his voice behind the door. "I'm going back to the ,uh, company now and might not come back tonight. So if you need anything, call me."

I didn't even have a phone. But it's not like I'm going to need him, I had a little puppy to take care of. "Okay."

"Don't let strangers come into your house!"

"… Sure." Hayato wasn't a stranger, so it was okay.

I stayed quiet and listened as Rico walked down the stairs and left the house. I quickly went downstairs too and waited a few good minutes before opening the door.

I looked around for the kid. "Hayato?" I whistled and even made tongue-clicking noises, the ones that usually attracted little animals.

The bushes rustled before a boy walked out of it. "Do I look like an animal to you?" Annoyance was so clear in his tone.

A smile crept onto my face. I was somewhat worried he might run off. "I don't know, do I look like a squirrel to you?" I gestured him to enter.

"Now come in before something happens. It would be like a sleep over; we would talk about our crushes, try hitting each other with pillows, and eat unhealthy snacks at midnight till we get sick the next day."

Hayato's eyes flickered with hesitation. "But your brother…"

"Oh please, just because Rico lashed out on the blondie like a wild dog earlier didn't mean he was like that twenty-four seven." I pulled him into the house when I got tired of waiting him. "Besides, he's out for some... stuffs."

I walked into the kitchen.

"I don't know how to cook, so we'll just make do with... uh…"

"Let's pray for something edible." I said before I opened up the freezer and shuffled around for something but it was almost empty.

I took out two eggs. "Let's eat them raw."

Hayato rolled his eyes. "You'll get sick." He turned to the frying pans. "Let's try cooking them."

"Bloody hell." I **seriously **never touched kitchen supplies before in my life. I mean, in _both _of my lives.

But nevertheless, it was better than starving to death. So I grabbed a chair and put it in front of the stove before climbing onto it. I stared at the buttons for a while. Why was it so flat? I thought it had that metal thingy that would spit out fire.

"Hey, grab a chair and help me over here." I said to Hayato.

Hayato did so and climbed onto it. It was so nice to know that I wasn't the only short brat around here.

I pushed the 'on' button and the stove beeped, startling Hayato. "There, there, it's just the stove." I patted his back.

"Shut it." Light pink dusted his cheeks while glaring at me. I snickered.

I looked at the eggs. "How do I get the insides into the bowl? Should I crack it?"

Hayato's eyebrows furrowed. "… Try throwing it into the pan."

I did and true, the egg shells cracked and the insides started filling the pan. A satisfied smile crept onto my face and I knew Hayato was smiling too.

But the smiles were replaced with frowns when it started sizzling loudly and made us jump. We quickly jumped off the chairs and backed away.

"Shit, I didn't know this would happen!"

Hayato sighed. "Now what?"

I pulled both our chairs backwards and grabbed a spatula. "We face our fears." I could feel my stomach growling. I climbed onto the chair again. "If you don't do the same I'll forever hold this moment where you wuss out against you till you die a horrible death."

"Fine." He grumbled as he climbed onto the chair too.

I stretched out my hand that held the spatula and tried flipping the egg. I held the urge to back away each time the sizzling noises got fiercer.

_Shit, shit, shit, shit._

I wasn't scared of punks at the streets or any potential drug dealers but was startled shitless by a sizzling egg.

I gave myself a pat mentally. Well done, me, for achieving a whole new level of being pathetic.

I could feel Hayato's worry stares as I finally managed to _finally_ flip the bloody thing and _boy, _it was burnt real badly. Like, charcoal-level black.

"It's still edible, right?" I asked.

Hayato replied helpfully, "More so than poison." Hahaha, he and his poison-related jokes. It must be the latest trend among Italian kids.

After a while, I didn't want to flip it anymore so after the sizzling stopped, I pressed the 'on' button, turning it off.

I got forks for us before getting the frying pan and placing it onto the table. If anything, our first egg attempt was comparable to actual shit.

"Let's eat...?" I handed him a fork. I was still pondering whether to eat it.

Surprisingly, Hayato approached the egg with his fork without much thought. He chewed the egg with a straight face.

"… So… How is it?" I asked.

"It's terrible." He said.

"Then why are you still eating it?"

"Beggars can't be choosers." Says the ex-rich kid.

I shrugged and stabbed a piece of the egg and stared at it. I slowly chewed it and true, it was as terrible as it seemed. It was crunchier than I remembered and I kept hearing the eggshells cracking inside my mouth.

"This taste like shit." I tried lifting up the mood, but Hayato was still quieter than usual.

* * *

After that miserable excuse of a meal (That for some reason Hayato could eat willingly), I decided it was bed time even though it was just around 7p.m. So I led him to my room.

"You wanna take a bath first or…" I trailed off, waiting for his answer. I was still sweaty from taekwondo, but Hayato was at the streets for days.

"I'm too tired." Hayato said.

"Okay." I pointed to the bed. "You sleep on the bed."

Hayato approached the bed and petted it. "Where will you sleep?"

"On the floor." Wasn't it obvious?

Hayato analyzed the bed. "This can fit two people." He smoothened the bed sheet.

I held back a snicker. "No, no." I wagged a finger. "Boys and girls shouldn't sleep together."

Hayato stared at me in confusion. "Why not?" At that exact moment, he seemed so vulnerable, like a newborn puppy.

"Please tell me you're kidding." He can't be this cute.

Hayato's expression told me he's serious. _**Shit**_.

Does that mean I should give him _the talk?_

…

I can't do this. I can't traumatize him yet.

"I… could use a company." If I wasn't smitten by his obliviousness earlier, this obviously did.

"Fine, fine, go to sleep." I tossed the blanket over him and crawled into it. Screw taking a bath.

He pulled the blanket down his shoulders and turned to the other side with his back faced to me. He stayed in that position for a while, so I assumed he was asleep already until he started trembling.

Hayato started whimpering, which made me felt… pity?

I didn't know what to say, but I reached out to his head and started brushing his head. He didn't fought or snap back like usual but instead, seemed to push his head into my hand further.

Even then, I didn't know what it felt like to lose somebody so important to you.

* * *

**OOC! Gokudera, I know. But let's keep in mind that he found out his mother died and he's only an 8-year-old.**

**Reply:**

**unlimited tears: **Sure thing, and thanks for the review!


	6. The Duration For Happiness Is Infinite

**I'm sorry but I can't do the shout-outs now ;-; But at least I'm updating this, right? Right? I should be updating my Otaku Boss story, but noooo, I just had to do something else.**

**EDIT: I had a typo. In the freaking title. So it's Vita, Amore, Risata, NOT Resita**

* * *

**Lesson 6: The Duration For Happiness Is Infinite**

Hayato stared at the magazine cover of UMA with interest before reaching his right hand for it. He needed some reading material to distract him from the embarrassment of his action last night kept popping into his mind and the one about UMA was the only one unwrapped.

_"I… could use a company."_

He mentally screamed as he flipped through the pages. The gigantic and colourful headline caught his eyes.

_ALIENS SPOTTED IN THE USA?!_

Out of curiosity, he read the descriptions.

_'Wow, there's even cropped circles. Did aliens actually made these?'_

Hayato was more and more absorbed into the magazine as time passed by. It may be surprising how he could easily forget things in just a moment but he was just a child.

He snapped out of his reading with when a book knocked his head. Hayato looked up to snap at whoever the hell had the guts to do that. He clamped his mouth when he saw Ela.

"Huh. Didn't think you like aliens." The girl said. "Occult geek then."

Mildly offended, Hayato retorted. "At least I can read, stupid squirrel."

Ela laughed. "Mind you, I read too. See," She looked at the random book she had picked from the shelves, "Uh, 'Let's Travel to Japan'. Huh."

She flipped to the first page. "Ugh, so many Italian…"

Hayato arched an eyebrow. "Didn't you study Italian for your whole life, stupid squirrel?"

* * *

I managed to slip out of the house and dragged Hayato with me. Obviously not having anywhere to go, I looked for the nearest bookstore and he seemed indifferent about the place. Strange, I thought he would be interested, seeing he was sort of a bloody smart arse.

"You go look for whatever you want. But it's not like we have money." I told him before rushing away to look for the manga section. This may be Italy, but they better have the shit I want even if I'm not buying anything.

It took me about 20 minutes to scan the whole place twice before deducing that this bookstore sucks. So I decided to go bother Hayato, who was sitting on the ground reading his book as if he was alone in the world.

I took out a book from the shelves behind him and hit his head – I tried not to be too hard, I didn't want to be held for causing concussion on another child - .

He snapped his head at me but was quiet. I looked over his shoulder at the book he was reading and I was a bit surprised it was something about UFO and the sighting of weird mystical creatures of earth that supposedly exist.

I thought he would be reading complicated stuff like 'The Meaning of Life', 'Concepts of the World But Nobody Cares Anyway', 'Why Does My Life Suck So Bad' or 'My Emo-self and I".

"Huh. Didn't think you like aliens. Occult geek then."

So we began our petty little arguments before I actually opened up the book I was holding. I groaned when I saw bunch of Italian words inside with so little pictures. I seriously can't read anything but manga.

I might have thought my weakness about Italian out loud because Hayato stated I should have learnt Italian for my entire life. I need to fix my issues of speaking things out loud.

"Uh, yeah. But you know, I had amnesia and stuff happened."

He arched an eyebrow with slight surprise. "How long ago was it?"

"About… five months I guess?"

He arched an eyebrow. "Normally you should be getting your memories back by now. Amnesia is usually caused by a traumatic experience or…"

I nodded and added "Hmm" or "Uhuh" absently while skimming through the pages until one place that seemed slightly familiar was in the book.

I cut off Hayato by showing him the book. "Read the descriptions for me."

Hayato grumbled in annoyance from being cut off but nevertheless read it anyway. "Namimori, a peaceful small town in Japan. While it isn't a tourist spot or anything, it still holds peace that is rare in the country."

I squinted at him a bit. He better not be lying, because my heart seriously stopped for a while when I heard 'Namimori'.

"… Is Namimori actually real?" I thought it was a fictional place in the manga.

"If it's written here, of course it's real." He rolled his eyes.

I guess I should've done more research about the setting when I was still in England. Now I feel ridiculous for asking such a question.

I plopped down next to him and started trying to read other things about Namimori and I assume Hayato went back to his book. It's hard to read when everything wasn't in English. Reading is my weakness in Italian.

"You're interested in Japan, stupid squirrel?" Hayato asked.

"I'm more for Namimori. Because a manga I read takes place there."

"Manga? What's that?"

I put the book on my lap and stared at him. "Nothing. Just the most awesome thing ever. Nothing describes weird shit and pedophilic romance like manga."

Hayato stared at me flat.

I laughed to myself. "It's more or less a Japanese version of comics. But more awesome." I later added, "Though the thing about weird stuff happening was real."

Speaking of manga, my mind was filled with thoughts of KHR manga now. Great. Now I live in great pain unless I find money and a cyber café.

"Ahh Yamamoto…" I found myself sighing when I thought of his cheery face lighting up my bloody world.

"Who?"

"Someone who isn't a bad kid like you."

He smacked my arm. I cried out in pain and my arm fell limp, so the book fell onto the ground. "You arse!" I stood up and was about to kick him but he grabbed hold of my foot.

Hayato stood up and we began wrestling each other, occasionally knocking the book shelves and create a racket in the quiet and small bookstore.

"I **don't** like how you're stronger than me!" I glared at him when he almost pushed me over.

"And _I_ don't like how you're taller than me!" He retorted.

"An inch or two means no bloody shit! You're gonna grow someday!"

"Puberty doesn't kick in for boys until at the age of 13!"

"You know this and you still don't know what guys and girls do for fun?!"

The arse actually managed to push me over and I knocked over a bookshelf. It collapsed on my hand so I wasn't dead yet.

I pulled my hand out. Luckily, it wasn't completely trapped; otherwise I might have to bite it off. But I mentally cursed when the manager rushed over from afar.

"Hey!"

Hayato pulled me up roughly and dragged me while we ran as if our lives depended on it. I almost tripped a few times to avoid the books and people blocking us. It seemed like he insisted on continuing running even though we were out of the bookstore.

I had no problem with it except I had less atheism than him and-

"Oh, bloody hell." I collapsed onto the floor.

"What? What's wrong?!"

I swallowed hard, as the memory of my bloody teeth made way into my mind and I almost puked again. I showed him my left hand and shut my eyes tight.

"A wound? It's not that deep so why- oh."

I don't care if it's a scratch or a gash. All that mattered to me was that there was **blood** seeping out of me. For some reason, I was terrified of blood even though gushing blood didn't faze me when I was in England. (I might have exaggerated a little but whatever.)

I heard something shuffling but I was too focused on distracting my mind with something else.

Think of Yamamoto. Yamamoto. Yes, the hot baseball player. He's so hot. I hate his fangirls.

I'm willing to sprawl my menstrual blood on him. Just to make him mind.

Damn it. I just talked about that red liquid.

"Done."

I opened my eyes and looked at my hand that was covered by the vest Hayato was wearing earlier. I looked back at him and saw his satisfied face.

"You better be grateful."

I huffed. "Yeah, 'cause it's not like you're the one that got me into trouble." I looked at my hand again. "You did a crappy job. I mean, can't you use something better?"

"It's not-"

"But thanks, I guess."

Hayato opened his mouth and closed it back. He turned away slightly and stayed silent. I saw his cheeks slightly pink.

How cute.

* * *

Hayato seemed to have mistaken my interest in Namimori for interest in Japanese since he demanded that I learnt Japanese, which he so conveniently knew.

I figured he was doing this to get rid of his guilt so I just went along with it. Japanese would be easier than Italian. Right?

I was glad I was learning Japanese (Two languages in a year was too much but Ela's long-term memory was helpful) since he seemed to be back to normal; stealing my chocolate, insisting it was just a minor bite and having arguments with me for the simplest reasons.

I was lucky that Rico and Pietro were hardly at home or else I would have to explain why the brat Rico disliked so much for some reason was at our house.

I still had school to attend to, so I made sure to prepare a closet big enough for him just in case he needed a place to hide when Rico or Pietro comes unexpectedly when I wasn't present; like going to school or taekwondo class.

"I'm going to surpass you one day, bloody arse."

Hayato huffed cockily. "You're still a yellow-belt, but sure."

Could I keep hiding Hayato forever? Maybe. I mean, it's been almost a month since he first came here and Rico doesn't know a thing.

I even asked Rico to fill up the fridge with edible food (I had to care for a puppy) and I figured I might as well try watching food channels.

* * *

"_To make perfect spaghetti, you should mix the boiled water with salt just about this much,"_ The blonde woman poured a ridiculous amount of salt into the pot, "_so then your spaghetti itself would have some flavour_!"

I mentally took note of it before shouting, "Hayato!"

Hayato, who was napping at the sofa beside me jumped up wide awake. "W-what!"

"Go check the fridge for some spaghetti."

He glared at me. "Check it yourself."

"But I'm watching TV." I whined. "Oh, wash your face too while you're at it."

His hand instinctively went to his cheek which was slightly covered with drool. He quickly wiped it off and rushed into the kitchen, flustered.

I smirked to myself victoriously. But then I realized something. "Did she say to add salt or sugar?" I shrugged. It won't taste much different anyway.

I didn't want to eat burnt eggs for the rest of my life. Hayato should be grateful I'm even putting in effort to make something edible for us instead of poisoning him and eating him.

* * *

"Hayato, help me peel this apple _now_! I saw some cool tricks on TV!" I tossed him a red apple.

He skillfully caught it and examined it. "Let me guess, bunny-shaped apples?"

"Hell yeah." I exclaimed. "Wait, how did you know?"

"I was beside you watching the TV too, stupid." He took the peeler and started peeling the apple, leaving the shreds in the sink.

"Ugh, dude! No! It's going to be a pain to get rid of the apple peels!" I scolded him and pointed to the garbage can. "Go."

"Tch."He began mumbling under his breath. I'm pretty sure he wasn't saying anything nice but I ignored it.

* * *

Perhaps it was naïve of me to think things could be like this forever. I thought he wouldn't miss his family, seeing how his family was so screwed up. It's better to forget those who didn't help you or are not beneficial to you in any way.

That's what I did.

But it didn't seem so easy for Hayato.

Occasionally, I would see him staring into the air like those drama romance. I was sure Hayato missed his family, or at least thought about them.

* * *

Hayato got off the bed, being careful not to make loud noises since it was midnight already. He opened the door and glanced back.

There, Ela lay asleep on the floor sleazily with no care in the world. She insisted Hayato to have the bed and said they shouldn't share for some reason. The floor was cooler, she added.

He felt bad for staying. Yet, he didn't. He had to leave. He can't be a burden to her anymore.

Ela could have a wonderful life, without him in it. She had a normal life, in the least, and a caring brother.

But a part of him was still reluctant to leave; his legs wouldn't move. He looked at Ela one last time before turning away; it was likely that would be the last time he saw her.

"Thanks, stupid squirrel." He said before closing the door off.

* * *

The elderly man felt bad. He really did. "I'm sorry but I can't accept you into the family."

Hayato should have seen this coming, being his eight try already. But it didn't make it less prickly to his heart.

"W… why?" He couldn't stop himself from asking. He knew perfectly well the answer, but he just _had _to ask.

He shouldn't have asked. He should have just keep his mouth shut, turn around, and just leave.

"Um… Well…" The elderly man hesitated.

The man who Hayato assumed to be the right-hand man answered fiercely. "It's because you're a dirty half-breed of a pianist who can't even survive a minute in the mafia world!"

"Coyote!" The boss stood up and glared at his subordinate. "Listen, kid…"

Hayato stayed silent and looked at the ground. His eyes stung, but he couldn't break down. He blinked away his tears and looked at Vongola Nono straight into his eyes.

Coyote was about to snap at the kid, until Vongola Nono raised a hand to stop him.

Hayato bowed a 90 degree. "Thank you for listening, Vongola Nono." He turned around and walked away before sprinting off into a run.

Ganauche, who just happened to enter the Vongola base, saw Hayato running. "Hey, don't run here, kid! They might scold you if you break som-"

Hayato rushed past him, ignoring him completely.

Ganauche sighed. He had heard that the illegitimate child of the famous pianist had been going around mafia to mafia to ask to be in the famiglia. Obviously, nobody wanted him. It was only a matter of time before Hayato gives up and goes back to his famiglia.

* * *

_This… will… be the last famiglia before I call it a night._ Hayato thought to himself tiredly. He knew he was going to get rejected anyway, but he was clinging to this _miniscule _drop of hope in his heart.

He couldn't go back to Ela's house, as tempted as that was.

He was a mafiaso. Once a mafiaso, always one.

Hayato had pride as one. And he couldn't depend on the girl forever.

Sucking in a deep breath and exhaled, Hayato entered the room. He was surprised to see the boss in a feathered mask, concealing his half of his upper face.

The boss glanced at him. He smiled, but it didn't seem friendly at all. In fact, it was menacing, even sent shivers down Hayato's spine.

"Greetings." His voice was higher than Hayato expected. He sounded surprisingly young, but he was still older than Hayato.

Hayato bowed slightly. "May I reques-"

"Don't waste your breath, please." The boss cut in, as if asking Hayato to get out.

Hayato felt frustration toward the young boss. He was tempted to snap at him and attack him, but he wasn't stupid as to upset the boss of the Volpino famiglia, one of the richest famiglia in the world.

"I… haven't even finished." He stated.

The boss sighed, but still kept the obnoxious smile. "I know the answer. You know the answer. Why bother to ask?" He enjoyed the sight of Hayato seething angrily in silence.

Hayato was about to leave until the boss said something else. "I have a deal." The young boy looked at him with slight hope.

"You," The boss pointed to Hayato, "get out of this country. I don't care, just get out. Don't be in Italy."

"What does that suppose to mean?!" Hayato shouted in frustration.

"Let me finish." He lifted a hand to stop Hayato from talking. "Leave Italy, and I will give you this." He took out a suitcase and tossed it to Hayato.

He caught it and opened it. His jaw dropped when he saw what was inside.

"That's a lot of money, so knock yourself up. Get a fake passport, some air tickets, and be on your way." He made some shooing gesture.

"Now go."

Hayato's grip on the suit case tightened. He gulped before turning away and walked off, worried that someone might attack or something. He was deeply confused, but never look into a gift horse in the mouth, right?

* * *

Pietro entered the room and took a seat next to his friend.

"Honestly, Rico," He crossed his arms, "you're just giving away all that money?"

Rico smiled. "Why not?"

The red head ruffled his head. "I'm sure all the people suffering poverty are going to kill you for that."

Chuckling to himself, Rico replied, "It's better if he leaves the country."

"Why? It's not like the small fry can actually harm you."

The young teen frowned. "It's not me. It's Ela."

"What's the illegitimate child got to do with her?"

"Nothing. He's just a bad influence. I don't want to risk a chance of them interacting." If Ela insisted on being friends with Hayato, he could do nothing about it. So when he had a chance to get rid of the boy, he was ecstatic.

"Did anyone ever tell you you're irrationally overprotective?" Pietro asked.

"Nope."

* * *

**REPLIES:**

**AkaMizu-chan:** I'm glad you're interested! Too bad Hayato-chan has to leave so soon though. I liked writing him.

**angelacorus:** Thanks! Love triangle? Seriously? Where?! XP

**Guest:** Guest-san, you make me blush.


	7. There Are 7 People Who Look the Same

**Uh, sorry for such a late update. I've been addicted to Five Nights at Freddy's recently. Who knew, right? Also, I have a _tumblr _account where you can follow me and ask me questions, like "why don't you update you procrastinator" to which I would answer by hiding in a dark pit. Link to my tumblr is in my profile!**

**Replies:**

**InLuvWithCandy: **Um, what? Sorry, I don't really get what you're saying.

**BloodyMorningStar:** Yeah, Ela has real issues with blood, but she went to get therapy so it's a bit okay now...? Also... -squints at your name-

* * *

.

.

.

_Ela reluctantly left her friend, Carla, and moved to Namimori, Japan, with Pietro for some unknown reasons. She thought it would be a normal and boring life, but little did she know she was going to see a familiar face soon._

.

.

.

* * *

**Lesson 7: There Are 7 People Who Look the Same**

I never regretted befriending Carla.

Despite her being a bully, I could tell she was the meeker one in her group, which actually made her a victim in some way. Apparently her parents' divorce was something they made fun of a lot.

So one day Carla snapped and actually fought back.

"Don't talk about my mum like that!" She screeched before diving at one of her ex-friends and they began scratching each other's faces.

I was like the others, we just spectated, clueless as to what to do until adults pulled them apart. We didn't see them the whole day.

The next day I saw Carla entering class alone, which was unfamiliar since she always arrive with her 'friends'. I didn't bother approaching her, since it was really none of my business, but I felt a tinge of pity for her when I saw her isolated from the class.

The teacher paired us up for a project and I dragged my chair reluctantly to her seat. She was meek when I threw in crappy suggestion and she went along with it.

I don't really remember how, but she began to open up to me, saying that she was really grateful that I constantly stayed by her side.

We were obviously awkward with each other at first, but we began to exchange greetings if we happen to see each other at school, tell each other opinions on certain teachers or students, sharing text books if the other forgot to bring them, exchange notes during class, and so on.

Bottom line is: we became friends. We became – dare I say – besties by the time we were middle schooler.

"Ela! Did you hear? Mr. Mike and Ms. Schmidt are dating!" She squealed out in excitement. It was those sorts of gossips about our teachers - or anyone, in fact – that made Carla broke out from her usually lady-like self.

"_Finally_," I huffed, "their sexual tension has been getting to e_veryone, _I swear, Carla."

* * *

I could see Pietro staring at me sympathetically as Carla began sobbing into my shoulders. I awkwardly grinned as we try to ignore the spectators around us.

"Carla, please." I pushed her away gently. "You're making a scene."

"B-but-! I-I can't believe you're actually leaving!" She whined. "Just last week we were talking about what we would do for your birthday!"

"Well, we did have a pre-celebration yesterday," I laughed, but inside, I felt a bit sad too. "We have Skype, don't worry." I patted her back awkwardly. "Besides, it's not like I won't ever come back or you won't drop by to Japan, right?"

Carla seemed to calm down a bit. "Y-yeah."

"Sorry to break it to you, but we really should go now," Pietro stated, motioning to the plane.

"Right," I said as I waved to Carla. "See y –"

I was cut off when Carla gave me one last squeeze before letting go. "Bye," she mumbled to Pietro and me. Pietro nodded and carried our luggage as he walked away. I followed after him after waving to Carla one last time.

* * *

After tiring transferring flights, we finally arrived at our new house in Namimori past midnight. I groggily tried to help Pietro move the stuff into the house before I dropped it and caused whatever was in the box break.

"Uh… sorry," I said weakly.

Pietro sighed before shooing me into the house. "There should be a bed in the room upstairs, choose whichever one you want."

I nodded and left after glancing at the box. I was comforted a bit by the knowledge that the taxi driver was going to help him to move the stuff.

As tempting and cozy the floor looked, I don't really appreciate accidentally injuring myself in case I slip off or something. I entered the room right next to me and plopped onto the bed, not bothering to close the door.

* * *

I woke up, properly positioned in the bed. Huh, Pietro must have helped me. I noticed my face felt empty and my hand reached up to touch it. Ah, my glasses were gone. I looked around for it but didn't find it.

I looked out the window and saw some blurry figures. They seemed to be the neighbours conversing with Pietro (he was really easy to look for because of his red hair). So I decided to hide in my room in case they entered the house or something.

Luckily for me, they left soon enough. It was my signal to go downstairs and get some food.

"Morning," Pietro greeted as he entered the house. He shut the door behind him and locked it.

"Morning," I grumbled. "Where's my glasses?"

He stared at me for a while – I think he was, it was really hard to tell when everything seemed so blurry – and he walked up to me. "Sorry, I accidentally took it with me," he said as he handed me my glasses.

I grimaced when I saw the handprints on it. I wiped them with my clothes before putting them on.

"Who were you talking to?"

"Neighbours," he answered shortly. I nodded and didn't bother asking for more information, he was always curt with his answers and only elaborated if it was necessary. Besides, I wasn't really that curious.

"Where's my laptop? Oh, and anything to eat?"

"It's somewhere around here. And no, so we're going to eat out later. So change or something."

We spent the remaining summer furnishing the house and sometimes going out to buy stuff. Oh, Pietro occasionally teaches me basic Japanese, which was hard, especially when words with more than three strokes appeared.

My birthday came, Rico wished me a happy birthday through an expensive international call. Carla said she could get me Fifty Shades of Grey if I wanted, which I quickly made a gagged reflex at her. Pietro patted me on the back and brought me to school.

It was also the day school started. April first, April fools', my birthday. Nothing special, just a bit disappointed that I don't get to pull pranks with Carla on the students or the teachers. It was sort of a tradition for us.

It was a boring class where I could barely understand anything. Japanese education is seriously harder than what I was used to.

* * *

The world works in a weird way. After years you got over something who you don't like _that _way, he, or at least someone who looks a lot like him just appears out of the fucking blues.

_Never, _and I say **_never_**_, _did I expect to see that white-haired loser. I don't care even if he wasn't him. I just wanted to get angry. I wasn't normally one to hold a grudge (ha), but ugh, it just upsets me so much.

"… Ela?"

I snapped out of my thoughts. I looked at my phone and saw Carla staring at me with confusion. "Oh, sorry."

I could _feel _her eye roll at me. "You were being quiet all of a sudden again. Seriously, you've been doing that for what, the past few days now," she said. She later added, "So, what's the deal?"

"Uh…," I wondered if I should tell her. But then I wondered why the hell not. "Remember the boy who was a taekwondo coach?"

Carla arched an eyebrow.

"You know, the one I used to vent a lot on you?"

"Ohhhh, the _puppy_ guy," she said in realization. I cringed slightly at the nickname I had given to him years ago. "I thought you had let him go -"

"Carla, I swear if you're going to break into that damn freaking song again I'm going to fly back to Italy and push you off the stairs," I snapped at her.

"Sure, sure," she brushed my bluff off easily. "Anyway, what's with puppy guy?"

I remembered what I was going to tell her. "You know that I moved to Japan and started school few days ago?"

"Uh-huh. Must be hard, huh, Japanese and all." She looked at me in fake sympathy.

"I guess. I can't really understand some words, but I _think_ I'm hanging," I said, a bit unsure myself. Pietro and Rico's forced tutoring of **several** freaking languages did help a bit. "So, back to uh, puppy guy."

Carla nodded.

"I actually saw him in school."

My friend gasped dramatically before breaking out in giggles a few seconds later. "It's like a love drama! Classic!" She snorted to herself. "So did you do anything?!" She was hungry for some juicy details, I could tell.

* * *

_Getting out of the classroom without Carla attempting to chat my ears off was still a bit hard to get used to. Especially when the mutters and conversations I hear around me still felt a bit foreign until I actually try to decipher their meanings._

_I really didn't bother making much friends, even though some classmates tried to approach me, to be friendly or polite, I don't really care. But they're easily chased off when I get too quiet for a while to mentally translate my words. Language barrier, yay._

_It was a really dull place and honestly the place could use some dusting. For some reason there were some dried red paint in random corners._

_I heard a frustrated shout of, "Baseball idiot! Don't act so freaking friendly!" followed by a smack that made me cringe._

_Looking around I saw the students didn't give much damn other than to jump in surprise at first, as if they were used to it, which was seriously screwed up._

_I followed the source of the sound and saw a group of three, walking down the stairs. Their hair colours were all different, surprisingly._

_The boy with brown haired laughed awkwardly while his other two friends argued. Or at least, that's what I think. It seemed like a one-sided argument where one was clearly constipated and the other was grinning as if he won the grand prize of a lottery._

_"Oh my g –" I slapped a hand to my mouth when I saw his face. It was almost impossible for me to forget that face with scrunched up eyebrows as if he was always upset with the whole world and the frown that says, "Don't fucking mess with me"._

_"Hayato…?" I whispered._

_His head made a sharp turn directly at me as if he heard me despite standing a distance away from him. He opened his mouth – probably to point out that I was staring and be rude about it – but no words came out. Instead, his eyes widened in shock._

_Before I knew it, I turned around my heels and brisked off._

* * *

_They looked at Gokudera in concern when he got quiet all of a sudden. They followed where his eyes were looking and didn't see anything particularly eye-catching._

_"Gokudera-kun? Anything there?" Tsuna asked._

_"N-nothing, tenth," Gokudera replied a bit too quickly and shook his head._

'It was just a hallucination,_' He thought to himself._

_Gokudera was unsettlingly quiet the whole day._

* * *

"… That's it?" Carla frowned a bit when she saw me frown. "I'm a bit disappointed."

"Well _sorry_ that my life events aren't dramatic as you wished," I huffed.

"What are you going to do now?" Carla asked.

I shrugged. "Nothing." Probably. "I _really _wanna bitch slap him, but I'm trying to forget about him."

"Do it! If it gives you the closure you need, then do it!"

"What do you think about me joining the taekwondo club?" I said swiftly, obviously wanting to change the subject.

She pouted, obviously upset. But she reluctantly dropped went along with me. "I guess you should, you're a red belt now, so you should keep going 'till you get black belt, huh?"

I frowned when I remembered my reason I wanted the black belt.

* * *

"Gokudera, you seem jumpy recently," Yamamoto stated out after seeing Gokudera flinch when he wondered out loud whether he should get dark or white chocolate later.

"None of your business," Gokudera snapped, sounding much weaker than usual, raising eyebrows of his friends.

"You know, you can tell us anything if you want," Tsuna said with confidence. It bothered him a bit that Gokudera would withheld information from him, but he should respect his privacy.

"Thank you, tenth," Gokudera grinned, touched by the generosity of his boss. When he looked out the window, he happened to see a dark figure entering the neighbour's house.

It was odd, because the neighbour seemed unfamiliar.

"Did your neighbours from before moved?" Gokudera asked.

Tsuna was a bit surprise at Gokudera's sharp deduction. "Yeah. I met the new neighbour. He's nice guy, a bit too quiet. Oh, he's looks not much older than us actually, but he says he's here with his sister."

Gokudera narrowed his eyes. Something felt off about this new neighbours. He made a mental note to check them out soon.


	8. Love is Greater Than Hate

**This chapter isn't as juicy as I had hoped, so hopefully the next one would.**

**Reply:**

**Theta-McBride: Thank you! :D**

**Skywaters: Thanks! -squeals-**

* * *

**Lesson 8: Love is Greater Than Hate**

Normally I would wake up at a later time for school, but today I just got up early. Probably because I actually went to bed earlier than usual (curse the shitty internet line).

And because of that very reason, I saw my new neighbour in a uniform similar to mine walking out the door, who happened to be a boy with this ridiculous gorgeous volume of brown hair, wow, Carla would be so jealous of she saw him.

Turning on my heels, I was about to walk away. But the sudden realization that I was seriously social deprived made me pause.

It's not like I have no friends other than Carla. But the problem is that they're in Italy and I'm in Japan. And remember that I said they tend to shy away from me because of language barrier? Yeah.

Maybe greeting him wouldn't hurt. He seemed so... timid (and maybe slightly pathetic). So I approached him casually and said, "Hey."

He whirled around and seemed surprised, as if he was expecting someone else. "O-oh, uh hey," he greeted back awkwardly. He later added, "Are you from Namimori Middle?"

I nodded. "I'm going to assume you are too. So, uh, want to go together...?"

The boy smiled and nodded. "Sure," he said.

So we started walking, he occasionally stopped me when I was about to take the wrong turn (It wasn't my fault being unfamiliar with the roads despite being here for weeks) and some questions asked here and there.

"So you moved from Italy?"

"Yeah, so don't judge me for my shitty Japanese."

"I won't," he assured. "Actually I have bad grades so even if I want to judge anyone I don't have the right to."

I chuckled a bit. What he said made sense for some reason. He seemed really familiar too now that I think about it. But I'm pretty sure I have never met him before.

"Oh right, what's your name anyway?" I asked. "I'm Ela."

"Tsunayoshi, but just call me Tsuna."

I froze for a second. What? Tsuna?

"It means 'lucky rope'. I don't know why my parents named me that."

Tsuna?

Namimori?

My mind clicked in slowly.

Could... it be that -

".. Nah, that's impossible."

Tsuna looked at me in confusion.

"Tenth! Good morning!" I heard a voice hollered from afar.

A wave of emotions washed onto me.

I could almost feel the blood rushing in me, the hair on the back of my neck bristled, my fists clenched, my whole body tensed.

"Ah, Gokudera-kun, morning!" Tsuna greeted.

"Apologies that I couldn't meet you earlier at your door, tenth." The boy looked like he was about to bow before his eyes landed on me. "Do I know you?" He even had the balls to glare at me.

"Geez, how should I know?" I spat.

He growled at me, as if warning me. But my pride didn't let me get down as I stared down at him, never breaking eye contact.

Tsuna interjected before anything else could happen, "A-ah, Gokudera-kun, this is Ela, my new neighbour."

Hayato arched an eyebrow. Then his eyes widened.

"E-ela…?"

"Finally remembered me, asshole?"

Tsuna looked at me, then Hayato, then both of us, totally confused. "You two know each other?"

Hayato, seeing Tsuna waiting for an explanation nodded slowly, as if doubting himself a bit. "We both knew each other in Italy," he said shortly.

I was about to say something but I saw somebody pulling Tsuna and Hayato in a tight grip. "Heya! New friend here?" A tall black-haired boy looked at me expectantly, expecting me to say something.

Realizing that he was Yamamoto Takeshi, my not-so-fictional-anymore crush, I opened my mouth to say something.

"I… Uh…," I trailed off, clueless of what to say. I felt my cheeks warmed slightly.

"You're the foreign student, right? From 1-C?" He asked, his body inching a bit nearer to me.

I found myself smiling nervously before clearing my throat to answer. "Y-yeah." Shit, I stammered. I gathered myself. "I'm Ela, from Italy."

Yamamoto brightened up like a Christmas tree. "Italy, huh? Just like Gokudera-kun!"

I had to hold in my scowl. I did _not _want to be compared to _that _ass. Because this is Yamamoto, naïve, sweet, and hot, _hot_ Yamamoto.

So I just shrugged.

Then Yamamoto said something. It took me a while to process him, he was speaking too fast and my Japanese still needed work. Also, my mind was also comprehending the fact that I was in living in the world of my favourite manga from my past life. Ouch.

"Say, wanna head to class together?"

But when I realized what he said, I nodded, _maybe_ a bit too frantically. "Yeah!"

I saw Hayato arched an eyebrow from the corner of my eyes.

So we headed nearer to the school, brushing aside the reunion. I walked beside Yamamoto, asking each other basic questions about each other like hobbies, how our home is like, etc (which were eerily pretty much similar to the Yamamoto from the manga). I heard Hayato and Tsuna talking behind us, but I didn't pay much attention to them.

If my guess on how I'm somehow _reborn _into the KHR world (yes pun very much intended), then I'm practically the all-knowing being since I know their stories.

By the time we separated (They're in 1-A and I'm in 1-C), I noticed some of my classmates were staring at me oddly.

Two girls approached me and said something. It took me a while to understand what they said.

"Are you okay? Your face is a bit red."

My hands instinctively went to my cheeks and true, they felt warm. "Yeah, yeah, thanks for asking." I waved my hand and smiled at them, surprisingly. I was in an awfully good mood.

* * *

"Biased bitch," Gokudera muttered under his breath, frustrated.

"Lighten up, we've already promised to have lunch with Ela," Yamamoto said.

"No," Gokudera spat, "_you _promised that. The tenth and I had no shit in that."

Tsuna frowned a bit. "Why are you so against her? I thought you knew her back in Italy."

_She's a fucking bitch with me but a smiling angel with Yamamoto_

Gokudera gazed into the air in front of him in shock before his face went pink. _Wait, what?_ He realized Tsuna was waiting for an answer. "W-well, we didn't exactly depart in the best way."

"Uh… a bitter break-up…?" Tsuna suggested.

Gokudera's cheeks flushed red immediately. "N-no!" But didn't offer any more explanation.

So they just stood there until Ela dragged the door open, looking slightly pink in the face for some reason.

"S-sorry for w-wait," Ela spluttered. Her Japanese was a bit weird but still understandable.

They combined two tables and sat around it. Ela wasted no time to sit beside Yamamoto but Gokudera was in front of her.

"Japanese like containers, eh?" She stated out when she saw Yamamoto and Tsuna digging into their bento.

Gokudera stifled a snicker. Ela glared at him, a bit conscious as to why he's doing that.

"They're called bento. And yes, I guess they're popular among the Japanese," Tsuna answered.

"That's nice. I normally go to canteen." Ela said as she showed her empty palms.

"Would you want some of mine?" Yamamoto offered.

Ela flushed a bit. "N-no thanks." As much as she was tempted to, she had to refrain from leaving a bad impression on Yamamoto.

Gokudera rolled his eyes before he tossed one of his breads towards the girl. "Here."

Ela's eyes brightened when she saw it. "Ooh_! Sardina!"_ She didn't say anything else and just tore into it.

_Still your favourite, huh._


End file.
